Vincent Basciano, Better Known as 'Vinny Gorgeous,' Found Guilty of Murder in Mob Trial

A guilty verdict on Monday makes Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano just the second mafia man in three decades to face the death penalty, the Daily News reports. Basciano was convicted today of murdering Randolph Pizzolo, a mob associate, but is already serving a life sentence for a separate killing back in 2001. Testimony from Joseph Massino, who made history as a cooperative "rat," helped to sink Basciano, who now awaits his punishment: either lethal injection or life in prison without parole. Massino taped Basciano's orders from jail to kill Pizzolo in 2004, when Massino himself was convicted of murder, arson, conspiracy, money laundering and so on, only to turn on the Bananno family he represented and work as a government informant. The golden age of nicknames, too, seems to be coming to an end. [NYDN]